Receiving the Holy Ghost

Elder Bender as taught, “These four words—‘Receive the Holy Ghost’—are not a passive pronouncement, rather, they constitute a priesthood injunction —an authoritative admonition to act and not simply to be acted upon. … The Holy Ghost does not become operative in our lives merely because hands are placed upon our heads and those important words are spoken. As we receive this ordinance,  each of us accepts a sacred and ongoing resposibility to desire, to seek, to work, and to so live that we indeed ‘receive the Holy Ghost’ and its attendant spiritual gifts. ‘For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift’ (D&C 88:33).”” (“Receive the Holy Ghost”  Ensign Nov. 2010, 94, 95